THE COMMON BROWN TROUT. 243 



straw-coloured floss silk, ribbed with silver twist. The extremities are 

 of a brown peacock's herl, tied with light brown silk thread. Tail. 

 Three rabbit's whiskers. Wings and Legs. Made buzz from a mottled 

 feather of the mallard, stained a pale greenish yellow. Hook No. 5, 6, 

 or 7, long. Many persons hold that it is of little use to attempt fishing 

 with the artificial fly when the May fly is on. The Green Drake is, doubt, 

 less, most difficult to properly imitate, but if the directions given are 

 followed a very decent counterfeit may be made, at least sufficiently 

 attractive to pick up a few brace. I shall give particulars of the floating 

 May flies of Mr. Ogden, late of Cheltenham, in a future section of my 

 treatise. At present it is sufficient to say that they are almost perfect, 

 so far as they go. Mr. Francis, after trying all sorts of bodies for float- 

 ing flies, can hit on no plan superior to the employment of straw or maize 

 leaf. Here are his directions : " First get a suitable hook. This may 

 seem a simple matter, but it is not. To make a fly float well, one must 

 have the smallest amount of iron in the hook you can possibly do with. 

 You must, therefore, have a very fine wire and a pretty long shank 

 .... Having got this hook ... tie on your gut ; let it be fine, 

 but not too fine, or it will go in the popping necessitated by drying the 

 fly. Then tie on your tail three' whisks of brown hen or pheasant. 

 Then take a slip of nice bright wheat straw, cut it to fit round the 

 shank of the hook, with a nick in the tail end of the straw to taper 

 the body. The slip of straw must come up nearly to the shoulder of the 

 hook, not further ; put it into a cup of hot water to soften it, then lap 

 it carefully round the hook and spiral it round to lash it on to the hook 

 with some burnt sienna- coloured silk, taking two or three turns over the 

 nicked end at the tail to secure and taper it and to imitate the brown 

 splotch which is the feature of the insect. At the shoulder you may have 

 two turns of a buff or light sandy red or a light olive hackle, and over 

 this two turns of a bright Florican hackle, which is the best imitation of 

 May fly legs I have ever met. . . . Then comes the wing. . . . For 

 a dark-coloured wing nothing beats teal, as it is a nice shiny feather, 

 and does not wet easily. For a lighter one feathers from the drake do. 

 ... In size they must be suited to the fly. Choose an even pair, and 

 set them back to back so that the points bend outward, and lash them 

 on upright over the back, and if you like to take a couple of turns of 

 peacoek herl, you have the best floating fly that can be made." 



Grey Drake, or Glossy-winged Drake (Order Neuroptera, family Ephem- 

 eridcB, genus Ephemera, species Vulgata [imago]). This is, as before 

 stated, the imago state of the Green Drake. It is not so killing as the 

 Green Drake, in my opinion, and some prefer other flies in season. I 

 do not. Body. The middle part is of white floss silk, ribbed over neatly 



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